Sama seperti bendera Merah Putih yang berasal dari masa Majapahit, kata-kata 'Bhinneka Tunggal Ika' yang dipilih menjadi semboyan negara kita juga berasal dari masa itu.
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Setelah mempelajari sejarah Wayang sejak zaman Jawa Kuno, barulah saya tahu bahwa bentuk tokoh-tokoh Wayang yang kita kenal sekarang ini adalah hasil pengaruh kuat dari Islam.
A. Introduction
In the Middle Ages, Muslims led an advanced civilisation. Muslim empires stretched wide from the Indian subcontinent to Spain and many scientific discoveries were made by Muslims. Muslims at that time viewed Europeans as pale-looking people who lived in the lands of winter, thus disabling them to have full intellectual capacity as human. However, the Modern Age sees a reversal in this position. Europeans are leaders in science and technology while many parts of the Muslim world are inflicted with ignorance, poverty, dictatorship, and religious extremism. What has happened to both worlds? How the transfer of power has occured from the Muslim to the European hands? Also what is the probable future for Muslims and Europeans? This article tries to discover the answers to the questions above which might eventually provide valuable lessons for Muslims. B. The Early Caliphates The history of Muslims began when Muhammad first preached Islam to the people of his birth city of Mecca. When he died in 632 AD, most of the Arabian peninsula has submitted to Islam. The political leadership of the Muslim community was then assumed by Muhammad’s close companions -Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali consecutively. These political leaders of the Muslim community are known as caliphs. The first four caliphs (also known as khulafa-ur-rashideen) launched massive military campaigns outside of Arabia to expand Muslim territory. Fueled by zeal under their new religion, Muslims succeeded in winning many territories from the Byzantine and Persian empire within a short time. However, attempts to overthrow the rule of the caliphs also started to appear. Umar was murdered by a rebel. Uthman, who succeeded him, was also murdered by rebels. Ali, Muhammad’s only son in law, then stepped into his position. By Ali’s time, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and the gouvernor of Syria, demanded that Ali should present the murderers of Uthman. Delivering unsatisfactory result, Ali was then challenged by Muawiyah. By this time, Muslims became divided into 3 factions: Those who supported Ali (known as the Shi’ites), those who supported Muawiyah, and those who denied both figures (known as the Kharijites). Ali was then assassinated by the Kharijites. Muawiyah took this opportunity to ascend to the seat of caliph. With a strong back up, Muawiyah succeeded in doing this. When Muawiyah began his rule in 660 AD, he inherited an already vast Islamic empire, stretching from the frontiers of India to North Africa. He then expanded and organised it. Later he designated his son, Yazid, to be his successor, thus establishing the dynastic caliphate for the first time in Muslim history, known as the Umayyad Caliphate. Umayyad caliphs implemented the policy of exterminating Ali’s blood lines in order to get rid of potential political rivals. They also established Arab hegemony over other ethnic groups who had been absorbed into the Muslim community following the caliphate’s expansion. These things have made the Umayyads despised by many parties. The Shi’ites, who had always been hunted by the Umayyads, supported the Abbas family, a political rival of the Umayyads. However, when the Abbas family succeeded in overthrowing the Umayyads and established the Abbasid caliphate in 750 AD, they turned to hunting down the Shi’ites whom they viewed as potential political rivals. Abdurrahman, an Umayyad prince who escaped the Abbasid massacre of his family, established a caliphate in Spain, which had previously been conquered under Umayyad’s rule. Rulers of North Africa also broke off from Abbasid’s rule and established the Fatimid caliphate. By the time of Abbasid’s rule, there were 3 contemporary empires in the Muslim world: the continued Umayyad caliphate in Spain, the Fatimid caliphate in North Africa, and the Abbasid caliphate in the rest of the Muslim world. The rule of these 3 caliphates saw the arrival of an era marked in history as the Golden Age of Muslim civilisation. Settling in strategic areas, supported by their now large population, the variety of commodities from different Muslim territories, and proper government policies, Muslims flourished in commerce. Muslims also flourished in science and technology. The vastness of Muslim caliphates, covering the whole or parts of areas of ancient civilisations, such as the Egyptian, Greek, Mesopotamian, and Indian, became a fertile ground for the discovery of ancient scientific works, their exchange, and the growth of new ideas. Muslim caliphs nurtured the culture of affection towards science in their empires by funding the translation of scientific works from ancient civilisations, mainly Greek, the construction of libraries, as well as astronomical observatories. While Muslims were in their Golden Age, the Europeans were in their Dark Age. The last advanced European civilisation, the Roman Empire split in 395 AD following the death of Emperor Theodosius I. While the Eastern Roman Empire, then known as the Byzantine Empire, continued to exist until 1453 AD, the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD after its emperor was killed by Odoacer, the chieftain of the German Gothic tribe. With this, Europe entered the Dark Age. With the absence of a single strong authority to unite and administer, Western Europe succumbed into feudalism. Feudalism is a system where lands are owned by landlords. Each lord raises his own armies and exercises justice in his own land. In return for the protection that they enjoy, common people work on the lands of these lords. The focus of feudalism was the welfare of the rulers, not the commoners, thus rendering difficulty to establish prosperity among the latter. With the absence of a single political ruler, the church also played a greater role along the Dark Age. It was the only institution that united most of Europeans. The circumstances of that era got the church to expand into the secular domain from being only in the religious one during the Roman time. The church possessed properties and its clerics enjoyed priviliges amidst society. European rulers and the Pope grew interest in each other at that time. The rulers viewed that the church had the ability to influence people to support them, while the Pope needed the rulers’ protection for the church properties from the often invading European barbarian tribes. Their relationship developed so close and intricate in the Dark Age –at times being harmonious and at other times containing enmity. There were times when a Pope excommunicated a ruler and a ruler detained a Pope. Centuries later, a prominent figure rose in Europe: Charlemagne. The king of the German Franks, he was able to subdue many lands, united them under his rule, and establish the Holy Roman Empire in 800 AD with its territory comprising modern France, Germany, northern Italy, and small areas in between. For the first time in the Dark Age, a large part of Western Europe was unified under a single administration. Over time European population grew and crowded the cities. However, due to the lack of sanitation in these cities, the outbreak of the Black Death plague from 1347 AD to 1351 AD claimed a high rate of death toll. Historians estimated that it reduced the European population by a fourth or a third. Some say, this has helped the collapse of feudalism in Europe as lords were in shortage of peasants to work on their lands besides other factors, such as the growing process of land unification under the emerging European centralised kingdoms. Aside of the Black Death, the 14th century also saw the success of commerce in Italian city states. Supported by the capital at hand, people there sought ways to carry their quality of life to a higher lever. Combined with the following factors particular to that time, it sparked the Renaissance in Europe.
Those factors above have introduced the Europeans to new techniques and the rediscovery of their rich Greek and Roman past. Beginning first in Italy, the Renaissance spread to other parts of Europe as the Black Death faded away, as English saying puts it “A rising tide lifts all boats”. Characteristics of the Renaissance were pride of Greek and Roman cultural works, appreciation of arts, sophistication of court etiquettes, interest in science, and the rise of humanism. The Renaissance has made Europe leave the Dark Age and enter a new era. While European nations showed signs of awakening in the 14th century, two centuries earlier the Muslim civilisation began to regress. The last periods of the caliphates witnessed fierce internal political conflicts weakening the governments and ceasing the growth that Muslim civilisation had already acquired. In the Abbasid caliphate the sultans eventually became puppet figures controlled by the powerful Seljuk Turks who had been serving in the military, while in Muslim Spain the now disintegrated Muslim power crumbled in front of the unified force of the Christian kingdoms pursuing the Reconquista, a process to recapture whole of Spain and Portugal from Muslim rule. When the large wave of Mongol invasion swept across Asia and Eastern Europe in the 13th century, the Abbasid caliphate was in a weak condition. After the Mongols arrived at the gates of Baghdad –the capital of the Abbasids-, destroyed the city and killed the sultan in 1258 AD, Abbasid’s rule was effectively ended. Territories once unified under Abbasid’s administration broke apart and formed a multitude of independent emirates. The collapse of political unity in the Muslim world came along with the cease of scientific development by the Muslims. The long debate between Muslim philosophers and Muslim clerics about whether truth could be discovered through ratio alone was eventually won by the cleric side, resembled by the publication of the book Tahafut Al-Falasifah (The Confusion of the Philosophers) by the influential Muslim cleric Al-Ghazali. When the Europeans invented the printing machine, Muslim clerics objected to its use in the Muslim world until 3 centuries later, fearing that self study of religious books could lead to heresy. This setback experienced by the Muslims continued up to the 15th century until Muslim powers rebuilt themselves upon the remnants of the former emirates in the forms of Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empire. C. The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empire The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empire were strong empires forged with new administration and military power. Once appearing in Anatolia in 1299 AD, the Ottoman Empire conquered the Balkan, Constantinople in 1453 AD, reclaimed the Middle East and North Africa, until it arrived at the gates of Vienna in 1529 AD. It reached its zenith under Süleyman the Magnificent who reigned from 1520 AD to 1566 AD, turning the Ottoman Empire to a great adversary to Europe. The Mughal empire was built upon the remnant of the Delhi sultanate, comprising modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. It reached its zenith under Aurangzeb who reigned from 1658 AD to 1707 AD. In between was the Safavid empire which was the Shi’ites’ sole stronghold. In their glorious days, those empires competed with each other in territorial expansion, commerce, and construction of monumental buildings. They left us the Süleyman mosque in Istanbul, the vast Isfahan square in Iran, and the Taj Mahal in India. Although Muslims ascended again into supremacy, they never reassumed their former position in the development of science and technology. This was probably nurtured by the sultans whose emphasis were rather on commercial and military growth. From the 17th century this vacuum position would be filled by the Europeans. The 15th and 16th century also witnessed 2 important phenomena in the Muslim world. Islam which had been carried to Southeast Asia through commerce gave way to the emergence of local Muslim sultanates. In Indonesia, the sultanate of Demak conquered the last Hindu kingdom of Majapahit in 1527 AD, thus ending the centuries long Hindu-Buddhist era there. In 1493 AD Granada –the last Muslim emirate in Spain- collapsed in front of the advancing Christian armies. The Reconquista was accomplished and the Catholic Spanish Empire was established. Following Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the Ottomans became intermediaries in the trade between the West and the East which propelled the prices of commodities. This incited Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese figures, such as Bartholomeu Dias, Vasco Da Gama and Christopher Colombus, to seek new ways to reach Asia by circumventing the African continent or sailing to the West. This brought Europe to the Age of Exploration. Despite being unable to find a shortcut to Asia, Christopher Colombus found the American continent instead, later titled as the New World. The Spanish empire which had sponsored Colombus’ journey began military campaigns to colonialise parts of the continent and exploit its riches. Later, other European nations, such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France, stepped into the exploration race by sailing to the other parts of the world. Whenever they encountered the technologically more inferior natives –including distant Muslims who were not under Ottoman, Safavid, nor Mughal rule, such as ones in Southeast Asia-, the European nations would colonialise them and take benefit from them. Upon the riches gathered from the colonies, European kingdoms could build their power. During the 16th century an important change took place in the religious atmosphere of Europe. Previously in the Dark Age the church had become so intertwined with politics. To the end of the Dark Age, as role of kings grew greater, the kings tried to marginalise the role of the church which they see would intervene with their authority –a process known as political secularisation. Later the abuse and corruption in the church became so apparent that they drew criticisms from many people –one influential figure was Martin Luther, a Catholic cleric. In 1517 AD he published the Ninety-five Theses which criticised some practices of the Catholic church. Luther ended up being ex-communicated by the church. His movement which started as criticism developed into a new branch of Christianity with some different views in theological and practical aspects, known as Protestantism. With the availability of printing machine, Luther’s idea spread and influenced nations of Europe. Nations began taking side with Catholicism or Protestantism, ending in the fierce 30 Years’ Wars from 1618 AD to 1648 AD. The emergence of Protestantism has further weakened the dominance of the Catholic church. Started in the 17th century, important scientific discoveries were made in Europe. Isaac Newton proposed the Laws of Motion and Gravitation and Galileo Galilei proposed the Laws of Falling Bodies. Europe then became a fertile ground for the birth of scientists, in shortage in the Muslim world. Following this, rationalist philosophers ignited the Rationalism movement which had a profound effect in Europe. They questioned the validity of religious explanations of natural phenomena in the wake of scientific methods implemented by Newton and Galilei. They then developed into questioning the validity of religion. This has begun the Age of Reason in Europe, which made the church not only marginalised from European politics but also from European minds. I call this phenomenon as mental secularisation. With mental secularisation, religion became a personal affair. Individuals were either free to follow, not to follow, or deny any religion at all. As a result, practices such as free sex, homosexual marriage, and a rising number of divorces began to emerge in the West–all of which many from the Eastern world would see as moral decadencies. In the Age of Reason, a fundamental change also took place in the European governments. Until that time, most of European governments were in the form of monarchies. In this type of government, aristocratic interests prevail over the will of the common people. The first often went against the latter at the expense of the latter. Spurred by the injustice that they experienced, civilians in different European states staged demonstrations, demanding for changes. Such actions resulted in the issue of the Bills of Rights in the United Kingdom in 1689 AD, which limited the rights of the British monarchs, and the French Revolution from 1789-1799, which deposed the French king. Later by the 20th century, nearly all governments in Europe have been constitutionalised or republicised, following the model that political philosophers such as Montesquieu had proposed. From this, we can observe that the form of European governments has developed over time from Empire (the Roman Empire) to Feudalism to Monarchy to Constitutional Monarchy or Republic. The 18th century saw another important European invention which changed the face of the continent: the steam engine of James Watt. The steam engine enabled the establishment of factories which in turn enabled the production of goods in a large number, shorter time, and the same quality. This made the prices of goods lower, so they became accessible to the Middle and Lower Class. Steam engine has also moved a large number of people from the rural to the urban areas to work in factories, thus causing some European nations to develop from agricultural societies to industrial ones. Steam engine has enabled the creation of railways and steam ships as well, which have reduced travel time significantly and connected many places closer than before. This period of significant changes in Europe is known as the Industrial Revolution. When European nations achieved the Industrial Revolution, they have eclipsed Muslim empires which had been lacking of innovations since the 15th century. It became apparent that in clashes between European and Muslim powers over territorial disputes, Muslims now lost more often than the Europeans. The sultans of the Ottoman and Safavid Empire realised this dismal situation and began reforms in the empires’ administration and military. In the Ottoman Empire, these reforms were known as Tanzimat. However, these reforms did not succeed in saving the empires from the European powers whose grounds had become the birth place for a series of inventions started centuries earlier. The British Empire succesfully supplanted the Mughal Empire in the mid 1800’s by deposing its last sultan, Bahadur Shah II. The Ottoman Empire made it into the 20th century. However, because the Ottomans sided with Germany in World War I, they had to accept the consequences for the losing side of the war. Ottoman territories were eventually divided into modern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Eypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan, former states of Yugoslavia, and Turkey, where the capital of the empire was seated. Except Turkey, each of these territories was then colonialised by the Allied Powers. The Safavid Empire survived. However the Safavid dynasty was replaced by a dynasty that became puppets of European powers. With the collapse of the Ottoman and Mughal empire, colonialisation of most parts of the Muslim World by the Europeans was complete. Muslims suffered under European imperialism. Their natural resources were exploited, they could not achieve prosperity, and they were kept away from education. Some Muslim nations experienced this for a couple of years, others experienced it for hundreds of years since their first contact with the Europeans, such as Indonesians. Such colonialisation effectively made Muslims ignorant, poor, and had no experience in administering a government. Conditions only changed when European powers succumbed into the World War II. Exhausted with the war against themselves, Europeans were met with Muslim revolts demanding independence in their own lands. Now almost 7 decades have passed since World War II ended and Muslims could liberate themselves from European rules. However we could witness Muslim nations in different conditions now. Palestinians lost their homeland to the Zionists under American support. The newly established governments in Iraq and Afghanistan are still retrying to unite the different political factions and stop suicide bombings, after their former governments were overthrown by the United States. Most of the Middle East is trying to overthrow their authoritarian governments. Pakistan is struggling to fight internal religious extremism, build its economy and military. Iran is developing its nuclear technology, finding resistance from the Western countries. Indonesia is fighting internal bureaucratic corruptions and building its economy, while Malaysia and Turkey are leading with their economic growth. In general, Muslims are still lagging behind the European nations in terms of economical and technological achievement. It can be proved from the following figures as per May 2012:
D. Conclusions Dealing with the dismal condition of the current Muslim world, many Muslims try to sooth themselves by reminiscing about their old glorious days. This is good to remind us of what we are actually capable of and the dignity that we should always have. However doing only this will not return us to world supremacy. We must also seriously learn, why we have declined and why Europeans have arisen. For myself, the Muslim world declined because it was eventually inflicted with too many internal conflicts and lacking of innovations. On the other hand, Westerners have succeeded in making their grounds fertile for the birth of ideas and inventions. I have come across Muslims who undermine Western achievements in science by saying that they are merely copies of Muslim discoveries in the Middle Ages. These are just comments from people who never learn history. The West did learn from the Muslims in the beginning, but later they made original discoveries. Things, such as the Laws of Thermodynamics and Theory of Relativity, are new Western discoveries which were not yet found during the Golden Age of Muslim civilisation. Anyway, any civilisation should always copy and study things from the more advanced ones, before they could make original contributions. So, the West did not do anything wrong in this case. To surpass Western achievements, the key lies at the quality of our human resources. Several nations of the world that had been lagging behind the West eventually succeeded in making themselves equal to the West by improving the quality of their human resources. Japan and Singapore are examples of this. Muslims must really learn how these nations built themselves. Educating an entire nation requires certainly a lot of fund. Therefore Muslim countries must improve their economy first. The prerequisite for economical improvement itself is having a government that really pays attention to the welfare of its people. We can hardly achieve this with authoritarian regimes. Sometimes an authoritarian regime does look after their people, but sometimes they just look after themselves. As an English saying puts it: Power tends to corrupt. Muslims must ensure that their government executives are well supervised. Dictatorship as what we witness in some Middle Eastern countries cannot be let go. Amidst modern Muslims’ urgent need to learn, it’s really sad to see that some Muslims still and only identify the West with infidelity. This creates the tendency to deny just everything coming from the West. We must not forget what our parents teach us: We must learn the good things from everyone and foresake the bad things behind. For myself, the fervour to surpass the Westerners must not develop into hatred towards them, yet it must be paralleled by an adept proficiency at their languages, at studying the knowledge that they now possess, so that we can develop it later. Muslims of the Golden Age of Muslim civilisation had studied extensively the works of ancient scientists of different beliefs prior to developing their own and finally becoming prominent in the field of science and technology. So, such attitudes, where some Muslims label other people and refuse to learn from them, are a direct betrayal to the explorative spirit that Muslim forefathers displayed. Changes happen everyday and can alter the course of human history. Europeans themselves now show some signals that could be interpreted as an emerging instability on their part. Due to their low birth rate, now Europeans have more ageing population needing government benefits than the young productive population able to provide support. This condition is very likely to continue. To deal with this shortage, European countries welcome foreign workers, including Muslims, to run their businesses. With this, a change in the cultural face of Europe is inevitable. Muslims must take this opportunity to prove that they are competent, able to adapt and contribute positively to the European society –things which are still missing from many European Muslim immigrants due to their educational background. Without the presence of foreign workers, European businesses risk diminution. Some European countries also show some signals of incompetitiveness in the face of new economic powerhouses, such as Korea and China. The more new economic powers play on the stage, the more risk European nations have from being shifted from the economic hegemony. If the Europeans are driven away, they could turn over time into mediocre nations running behind the new front runners. The entire world’s view would then turn to these new leaders as the new bearers of the torch of civilisation. The changes taking place in the world in a secondly rate produce a shift in the balance of powers. Only those who could adapt to these changes would remain in the prominent place. Muslims could be or not be a part in this shift of balance. There is no one telling us that we could not rise again. But likewise, there is no one telling us that we could rise again. Our success in restoring our glory is then determined by several things: whether we are willing to admit our current defeat, learn from the best, and exert all the efforts necessary to take us to our former place. In the first place, it is not a struggle on a global scale, but on a smaller scale in every Muslim family. A. Understanding the Spanish Context Recently I have just read an Indonesian book titled “Islam di Spanyol” (Islam in Spain) written by my old friend, Ryan Mayer. The topic of Muslim civilisation in Spain becomes familiar to me again as it was when I was fascinated by the remarkable achievements of medieval Muslim civilisation in junior high school. I’m interested in writing this short article since I see that although Ryan described extensively about the political dynamics in Islamic Spain in his book, he did not make a conclusion of why Muslim civilisation in Spain eventually collapsed. Moreover, books that focus on the demise of Muslim Spain are indeed quite difficult to find in the market. I myself believe that in the collapse of Muslim civilisation in Spain, there are valuable lessons for every Muslim. Anybody having attention to Muslim history most probably would know that Islam was present in Spain for 900 years long, started with the arrival of Muslim conquerors in 711 AD and ended with the expulsion of the Moriscos (Muslims converting to Christians) in 1609 AD. While Europe fell into the Dark Age, marked by the absolute power of the church, the slowdown of intellectual and cultural growth, and the lack of good sanitation afflicting European cities, culture thrived in Muslim Spain. Streets were paved and lit with lanterns along the way. Public baths, hospitals, schools, universities, libraries, palaces and mosques were built everywhere in Spanish lands under Muslim rule. Muslims did not come to Spain on their own initiative. Rather, they were first invited by Julian, a Vandal lord, who despised the reign of Roderick, a Visigothic lord, who ruled most of pre-Islamic Spain. Rumors had it that Julian’s daughter had been raped by Roderick. However, if we take a look at present Spain, there is only a few, if not none, that could hint at Islam being a living integral part of Spanish culture. The myriads of mosques once to be found on Spanish soils have been turned to other functions. Muslims also number only a few in modern Spanish population. Out of 40 million residents in Spain, Muslims only number 1 million, of which native Spaniards are only between 20.000 and 50.000 people. These things seem to contradict Muslim presence in the Iberian peninsula for nearly a millennium. So, what has brought collapse to Muslim civilisation in Spain? Also, what has made its perishing so successful? B. Causes of Collapse and Vanishing Before we answer the aforementioned questions, I take you to have a look at Spain’s geographical situation first. Spain has always been located on the tip of Christian-dominated Europe, a continent separated by sea from the Muslim-dominated North Africa, the Middle East, and northern South Asia –a continuum from West to East. It can be understood by itself that the presence of any foreign element on the fringe of Europe, moreover Islam, will be subject to constant pressure from the region’s Christian powers. Thus if any Muslim rule was about to establish itself in Spain permanently, it must make sure that it should always remain strong to repel the region’s battering Christian forces. Also, given Spain’s geographical situation, not all Islamic empires could reach Muslim Spain. The nearest back up was the Muslims in North Africa who were still separated by sea. The never-ending presence of a strong support would have been required to ensure the everlasting presence of Muslim civilisation in Spain. This support would assist Spanish Muslims should they fall under heavy siege from the enemies. When Muslim Spain collapsed, all those requirements were no more fulfilled. There are 4 factors that I view contributing to the demise of Muslim Spain: 1. Consolidation of Spanish Christian Kingdoms When Muslims first entered Spain, spanish christian kingdoms were weak. They fought each other for supremacy over Spain. Therefore Muslims could conquer Spain rather easily and enjoyed a period of peace during their early residence in Spain, in spite of internal conflicts in Muslim community itself. Although later they still fought each other, spanish christian kingdoms began to consolidate over time. One way is by doing royal marriages. A well known marriage is between king Ferdinand II of Aragon and queen Isabella I of Castile who brought end to the last Muslim government in Spain -the Emirate of Granada- in 1492 AD. 2. Conflicts Within Muslim Community Since its first establishment in Spain, Muslim community had been a tapestry of different ethnic groups, which unfortunately turned out to become the source of conflicts along Muslim history in Spain. In Muslim Spain, there were Berbers, North African Muslims who made up the majority of the soldiers in the conquest of Spain. Due to their participation, they claimed for rule in the conquered Spanish lands. There were also Muladis, Spaniards who converted to Islam or married with Berbers or Arabs. They did not only consist of common people, but also Spanish noblemen. Spanish noble muladi families were such as Banu Angelino, Banu Sabarico, Banu Qasi, and Banu Qabturno. They were the majority in the population of the occupied Spanish lands. They viewed that they deserved the rule of Spain, since Spanish soils were actually theirs. There were also Arabs, who despite being a minority were an elite ruling class. They were often despised by the other groups for allegedly regarding themselves superior and trying to retain the rule of Muslim Spain with themselves. Under Arabs-led governments, the Berbers and Muladis became second class citizens. Although Spanish Muslim civilisation produced remarkable achievements on one hand, it was often coloured by this kind of ethnic disputes on the other hand. When one family from a group rose to power, the other families would challenge them. Several solutions had been attempted, such as alternate leadership for a limited period of time by different families. However, not all families turned out to abide by this agreement. Until the end of Muslim history in Spain, leaders election and leadership succession were still problems in the Muslim community. Democracy, whereby leaders were appointed by means of popular vote, was still an unknown concept at that time. The diverse Spanish Muslim groups could only be united when a strong foreign Muslim power, such as the Umayyad, the Almoravid, or the Almohad dynasty, came to conquer and seized rule from everyone. When this foreign power disappeared, Spanish Muslims fell back into conflicts. 3. Conflicts Among Spanish Muslim Governments Probably deceived by the peace they enjoyed, the Muslim governments, appearing in forms of taifas, forgot that they actually had common foes -the Christian kingdoms in the North- which would expand and reclaim their territories whenever possible. Muslim governments also did not regard that they stood on an equal ground and focus on working for the prosperity of their people -All of which could have led to the establishment of a Muslim confederation. Instead, each tried to be the most prominent in the region by carrying out monumental construction projects and overrunning the other Muslim governments, often by asking for assistance from the Christian kingdoms. Again, these disgraceful acts perished only when a unified government run by a foreign Muslim power took place. 4. Disappearance of A Strong Supporting Power From point 2 and 3 we know that the presence of a strong foreign power was always required to establish unity within the Muslim community and the different political factions in Spain. Even if the local Spanish Muslim governments had united, this strong foreign power would have been needed to provide a support when advancing enemy forces came to their gate. Unfortunately the last foreign dynasty to rule Muslim Spain, the Almohad, fell in 1269 AD with the assassination of its leader, Idris II Al-Wathiq. After that, the Reconquista, a process of reclaiming Spanish lands by the Christian kingdoms from Muslim rule that had started centuries earlier, went unstoppable. After the Emirate of Granada succumbed to the might of the allied Christian kingdoms, the fate of Spanish Muslims were left to the Christian hands. Almohad’s replacing dynasty in North Africa, the Merenid, did not have enough power to recapture the entire Spain from the Christian kingdoms, which were already strong at that time. Reinforcements from distant Muslim empires, such as the Ottoman Empire, could only launch assaults to Spanish coastal areas too. They could not go so far into Spanish heartlands. The fall of Muslim rule in Spain was eventually sealed.
If a civilisation falls, does it necessarily mean that all of its traces vanish? No. So why do traces of Muslim civilisation in Spain perish? The answers to this are provided in the 2 points below. 1. Rare Presence of Natives-run Muslim Governments Although the Muladis represented the largest populace in Muslim Spain, Muslim governments were not headed by them. This is due to the fact that the first Muslim government was established by foreigners who conquered Spanish soils: the Arabs and Berbers. As a consequence, the Arabs and Berbers regarded that they deserved the prize of this conquest: rule over Spain. The Muladis were only able to rule when they succeeded in their coup d’etats against the ruling parties, such as in the case of Banu Qasi that seized rule of Upper Ebro region. However, Muslim governments headed by Muladis was not a wide spread phenomenon. Even if it is often said that Muslims of different ethnic backgrounds intermarried in Muslim Spain, it seems that it did not go in such a rate that could totally blur ethnic distinction in the Muslim community. Some people still thought that they deserved rule of the occupied territories more than the others due to their ethnicity. This type of government, run for Muladis by non-Muladis, rather than for Muladis by Muladis, is what I suppose has made Spanish Muslim governments viewed by Spaniards of that time as being colonialistic and alien to some degree, because their relative Muladis could not be masters in their own homeland. Acts to eliminate everything foreign could appear in every nation of this world, whenever an anti-foreigner sentiment erupts amidst the community. 2. Eradication by Spanish Monarchs When the Emirate of Granada was defeteated in 1492 AD, its leader, Muhammad XII alias Abu Abdillah secured an agreement, The Treaty of Granada, with King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Castile to protect the religious freedom of the Muslims now living under Christian rule, known as Mudejars. However this agreement was short lived. Soon Cardinal Cisneros burned Arabic books and forced Muslims to convert to Christianity, which caused the First Rebellion of Alpujarras in 1499 AD. In 1502 AD, Queen Isabella I officially asked all Muslims in the kingdom of Castile to convert to Christianity or exile. King Charles V took the same act to Muslims in the kingdom of Aragon in 1526 AD. While some Muslims exiled, many chose to convert to Christianity. They were known as Moriscos. However, they were often subject to suspicion from their fellow Christians for practicing Islam in secret. This was probably influenced by the issue of some fatwas, such as that from the Grand Mufti of Oran in 1504 AD, that explained that Muslims were allowed to eat pork, drink wine, or do other forbidden things to hide their true identity (known as taqiyya) in the face of imminent threat. Many Moriscos then became targets for Inquisition, a Christian trial to investigate the actual religious practices of the suspected Christians. Its punishments range from imprisonment, torture, to burning at the stake, known as auto da fe. Despite being Christians, many Moriscos still used Arabic language, dress and performed Arabic customs. To assimilate the Moriscos better into the Spanish Christian society, in 1567 AD King Phillip II of Spain reasserted the prohibition for practice of Islam and forbade the use of Arabic language, names, dress, customs, as well as instructed the surrender of Morisco children to be educated by Christian priests. Some Moriscos who were indeed secret Muslims carried out the Second Rebellion of Alpujarras and the Morisco Revolt in 1568. Following these, King Phillip III of Spain issued the Edict of Expulsion in 1609 AD to finally expel all Moriscos from the kingdom of Spain while confiscating their properties. This closed the presence of significant Muslim population in Spain. Struggling with Muslims in their homeland along the course of their history, the Spaniards were the only Western nation not to participate in the Crusades launched to seize Jerusalem from Muslim hands. C. Conclusion I know that many modern Muslims dream to be united under a single caliphate as they were in the past. However, the more I learn about Muslim history, the better I understand that the only Muslim caliphates free of any profane contaminations were the first four Muslim caliphates, run by the fellows and direct students of Prophet Muhammad himself. Since the last caliphate was brought down by a coup d’etat, the following caliphates fell victim to greed, political intrigues, ethnic discrimination, and corruption despite their great accomplishments. These were also the diseases that have eventually torn down Muslim civilisation in Spain. Finally, I believe, it is not unity under a single caliphate per se that would restore Muslims to world domination again as in the Middle Age, but values like hard work, fairness, ethnic equality, democracy, education, and good morality –some of which had been prescribed by the Prophet himself in his Last Sermon before he died. Baru belakangan ini saya tahu bahwa 6 dari 9 Wali Songo kemungkinan adalah keturunan Tionghoa.
Sisa anggaran belanja Juli akhirnya saya alih bentukkan menjadi buku Evolution: The Human Story karya terbaru Dr. Alice Roberts, ahli anatomi UK yang saya kenal melalui National Geographic Channel dan saya sukai karena cantik dan pintar. A. THE EMERGENCE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE The history of the Jewish people started with Abram, a then prophet of God acknowledged in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, whom the Jews call as “the Father of the Jewish People”. Abram came from the city of Ur in Mesopotamia. Together with his father (Terah), wife (Sarai), and nephew (Lot), he travelled to the city of Haran in present day Turkey. There he received a promise from God to make of him a great nation and a command to travel forth to the Land of Canaan with Sarai and Lot, which God would make as a land for his heirs. In Canaan, God repeated His promises and sealed a covenant with Abram by demanding him to perforrm a circumcision. In order for Abram’s descendants to be included in this covenant, a circumcision has to be made. God also renamed Abram with Abraham, which means “a father of many (people)”. In Canaan, Abram married Hagar, an Egyptian slave of Sarah, and begot Ishmael by her. Later Sarah bore him Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob, who acquired the name “Israel” which means “God contended”, and Jacob begot 12 sons, whom the Jews call as the fathers of “The 12 Israeli Tribes”, one of whom was Joseph. Due to resentment from his brothers, in childhood Joseph moved to Egypt and later served as the Egyptian king’s Vizier. After reconciliation with his brothers, he later invited them and his father, Jacob, to relocate to Egypt following a drought in Canaan. It was in Egypt that the Jewish population descended from Jacob grew. The Jewish population in Egypt underwent slavery for a couple of generations until the emergence of Moses, a prophet of God, who was commanded to bring the Jews back to the Promised Land. In Canaan, the Jewish culture flourished. There emerged the Kingdom of Israel with Saul, David, and Solomon successively as its prominent leaders. The era of David saw rivalry with the Philistine people for domination over Canaan and the era of Solomon saw the construction of the Temple of Solomon (also called as the First Temple). After Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel broke into 2 parts: the Kingdom of Israel in the North and the Kingdom of Judah in the South. In the following centuries, Canaan eventually fell to foreign invasions and the Jews were subject to Assyrian, Babylonian, Macedonian, and Roman rule successively. B. THE JEWISH DIASPORA Continuous emigration of Jewish people started taking place when king Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple of Solomon in 587 BC. He relocated a large number of Jewish population to Babylon. In 63 BC, General Pompey of Rome invaded Canaan and started Roman rule in the region. Following this, Emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the rebuilt Temple of Solomon (known as the Second Temple) in 70 AD. After renaming Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina in 131 AD, Emperor Hadrian constructed the Temple of Jupiter on the place of the Second Temple and banned the Jews from entering Jerusalem. This ban was valid until Muslim conquest in the 7th century. Following the anti-Judaism inclination (often called as Anti-Semitism) the Roman government exhibited and the harsh persecutions that the Jews received, the Jews scattered and migrated to Persia, North Africa, and Roman provinces in the Mediterranean. From there, they made their way to inland Europe and resided in different parts of Europe. Only a small population remained in Canaan. Jewish culture in Europe rose, diversified, and declined alternately at different times during Jewish residence in Europe. There grew eventually 3 distinctive Jewish cultures: Mizrahic in the Middle East and North Africa, Sephardic in Spain and Portugal, and Ashkenazic in Central and Eastern Europe. For most of the time, however, it can be said that Jews were subject to continuous discriminations –the level of which varied according to the region where a Jew lived. These discriminations came in different forms, such as the restriction for Jews to participate in a government, the requirement for Jews to reside in ghetto areas, the denial of citizenship, forced conversions and persecutions. These discriminations took place mainly due to several factors:
History recorded occurences of severe persecutions of Jews:
Before the Holocaust brought by Hitler, many Jews responded to these discriminations in many ways:
In contrast to the above assimilation attempts, in 1897, Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian-born Jew founded the Zionist movement. He wrote in his book, der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) published in 1896, that Europe would not be able to embrace Jews totally as a part of its society despite the efforts that the Jews had been exerting to assimilate. This he wrote because he viewed that Anti-Semitism amidst Europeans had also grown stronger in recent years and assumed political movements. He hypothesised that Jews could only live in peace if they could found their own Jewish state in a hospitable piece of land, which he viewed at that time as Argentina or Palestine. However, in his time, Zionism didn’t gain much acceptance amidst Jewish people who mostly still preferred assimilation. Even a well known Anti-Zionism movement arose amidst Jews, known as Agudath Israel. C. THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL The end of World War I in 1918 brought the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, one of Islamic empires that held control of a vast territory from North Africa, the Middle East, to European Balkan, after it allied with the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungarian empire, and Bulgaria) in defence of its territory. This territory included Palestine. The collapse of the empire has brought a vacuum of power in Palestine. The Zionist movement sought to take advantage of this situation to found a Jewish state in Palestine. During the War, the Jews had provided funding in the cause of the Allied Powers. In return, the Zionists asked for recognition and support for the founding of a Jewish State. The British government stated its support for the Jewish state in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. In 1922, the League of Nations, a predecessor of the United Nations consisting mainly of Allied Powers, issued the Mandate for Palestine, by which the United Kingdom, as one of the winning countries in the War, was given control of Palestine for 25 years, support to create a state for Jews, and mission to help form a local government in Palestine until the government is able to stand by itself. Before the Mandate, there had been massive Jewish immigrations to Palestine in 1881 and 1904, known as the First and Second Aliyah, to flee persecutions of Jews in Eastern Europe and the Russian Empire. The Mandate brought more Jewish Aliyahs, known as the Third Aliyah (1919-1923), Fourth Aliyah (1924-1929), and ultimately the Fifth Aliyah (in 1930s) –Consisting of Jews who fled Nazis persecutions in Europe. These Aliyahs have shifted the population balance in Palestine in a short time, where before the Mandate the Jews made up only 11% of the population of Palestine and after the Fifth Aliyah made up 33% of the population, and caused the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. Since its first attempt, the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine by the British government had always been met with resistances by the local Arab population and the neighbouring Arab countries. The British government was seen as having given conflicting promises to the Jews and Arabs. To the Jews, they promised a Jewish state in return for the support the Jews gave during the WW I. To the Arabs, they promised independence in their lands from Ottoman rule for the support the Arabs gave of British campaigns against the Ottomans. The Arabs saw this must include the land of Palestine, which also had a majority of Arab population. In attempt to ease the resistances, the British government proposed solutions as described in the White Paper of 1939:
In 1947, nearing the end of the Mandate, the British government finally announced that they would withdraw from the Mandate as they couldn’t find a solution that satisfied both the Jews and the Arabs. UK passed the problem of Palestine on to the United Nations. In November 1947 the UN came with a resolution to partition Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. The Jews reluctantly accepted this, but the Arabs rejected. By the end of the Mandate, no solution could be accepted mutually by both the Jews and the Arabs. Eventually on 14 May 1948, a day before the Mandate ended, the Zionists proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel (Eretz Israel). As a response, in the following day a combined military force of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt attacked Israel, causing the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. However this force was successfully repelled by Israel. In the cause of Palestine, other large scale wars occurred in 1953, 1967, 1973, 1982, and 2006 between Israel and its neighbouring countries. In all of these wars, Israel successfully maintained its territory due to strong military support from the United States. In the war of 1967, Israel even successfully seized East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip from its Arab neighbouring countries. These territories are then called the Occupied Territories and remain under Israeli control until today. Since the establishment of Israel, many Palestinians fled or were expelled from their properties in Israel. While some Palestinians emigrate to the neighbouring countries, some others stay in scattered cities and refuge camps across the Occupied Territories. Living quality in most of these settlements is poor. Statistics shows while there are 1,9 millions of Palestinians living in Israel with Israeli citizenship (20,5% of Israel’s population, as of 2012), there are 4,62 millions of Palestinians displaced from their original homes and becoming refugees in the Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories don’t have right to Israeli citizenship. Civil unrests colour the daily life in Israel and the Occupied Territories. In response to discriminations, strict access control to water sources, working places, and other places, Jewish settlements expansion into the Occupied Territories, and other suppressions felt by the Palestinians, many suicide bombings and other violent acts are carried out by Palestinians with Israeli military and civilian targets. From 1987 to 1993 and from 2000 to 2005, great uprisings known as the First Intifada and Second Intifada were staged by the Palestinians in response to some Israeli provocative acts. These Intifadas have got Israel to construct wall barriers of hundreds of kilometres length inside the Occupied Territories to promote security in Israel. The ongoing unrests have placed Israel down in the 145th rank out of 153 ranks in the Global Peace Index of 2011. Since Israel’s independence, proposals have been offered to solve the problem in Palestine by Jews, Arabs, and other countries. There have been the One State Proposal, Two States Proposal, and the Three States Proposal. Initially no proposal could be accepted mutually by both the conflicting parties. However recent developments have made Two States Proposal the apparently favoured solution by the Jewish and Palestinian public, despite strong internal oppositions. While the Jewish public view that Israel should remain a Jewish state and not a joint Jewish-Palestinian government is still maintained, the view of the Israelis of the Palestinians is split between 2 major parties in the Israeli parliament: the moderate Labor Party (Haavoda) which favours the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories and the hard-lined Likud Party which opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and insists that Palestinian population must stay in their current dispersed state. Likud fears the rise of hard line groups, such as Hamas, in the Palestinian government, which could later threaten Israel’s existence. The view of the Palestinians of their situation is also split between 2 major parties in Palestinian parliament: the Fatah which favours the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel and the hard-lined Hamas which denies the existence of Israel and promotes the establishment of a Palestinian state in current Israel and the Occupied Territories. Progresses towards peace have been impeded in recent time due to the creation of Jewish settlements, violent acts carried out by Palestinian militants, and the current control of the government post by the Likud Party in Israel (after 2005 election) and Hamas in the Occupied Territories (after 2006 election). However, recently Hamas has shown its willingness to accept Israel’s existence, provided that Israel supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories, as stated by Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’ Political Bureau’s Chief in 2009 –Something that the current Israeli government under Likud still hesitates to accept. D. MODERN JEWISH ANTI-ZIONISM MOVEMENTS Despite the establishment of Israel, the talks about Israel have always been a controversial subject within Jewish communities all around the world, as Jews themselves have different inclinations towards Israel and many Jews oppose the establishment of Israel on secular and religious grounds. After Agudath Israel, other Jewish anti-Zionism movements continue emerging over time, such as Matzpen, Neturei Karta, and Satmar. They often stage protests in cities where a Jewish population is present –New York, Ontario, London, or Israel itself- demanding the dismantlement of the State of Israel and the restoration of the State of Palestine. They also run educational institutions, issue bulletins, and run other activities. Jews who oppose Zionism on religious ground remind that the current situation of Jewish dispersal has been prescribed in the Torah as God’s sanction for the disobedience of the Jews. Jews will be delivered by God to the Promised Land by peaceful means and not by the works of hands of the Jews themselves only after they repent. If they make any attempt to return before they repent, they will be met with severe punishments from God. Until their return, the Jews must submit to the authorities of the lands and promote peace where they reside.
Religious Anti-Zionism Jews view the establishment of Israel as a premature attempt to return to the Promised Land and a direct violation of God’s command to Jews to remain in exile. The huge efforts exerted by Israelis and the constant foreign monetary aid from the US needed by Israelis to support their presence in Israel are forewarnings of God’s punishment. Sources and Further Information: On history of the Jews: Harris, Jay M. "Jews." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. On history of Palestine, Peace Proposals for Palestine, and Palestinian Organisations: Reich, Bernard. "Israel (country)." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Palestine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-state_solution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-state_solution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Accord http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-state_solution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLO On Jewish Views on Israel: Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion: http://www.ajc.org/site/c.ijITI2PHKoG/b.5915517/k.D620/2010_Annual_Survey_of_American_Jewish_Opinion.htm A Jewish American’s Evolving View of Israel: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15663 Why Fewer Young American Jews Share Their Parents View of Israel: http://ideas.time.com/2011/09/29/why-fewer-young-american-jews-share-their-parents-view-of-israel/ Why Are American Jews Abandoning Israel: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/why-are-american-jews-abandoning-israel-1.6652 On Israel, Jews and Leaders often Disagree: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/politics/06jews.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all A Jewish View of the Jewish State: http://www.rense.com/general25/jvj.htm Jewish Anti-Zionism Movements: www.nkusa.org, Website of Neturei Karta of the United States www.jewsnotzionists.org www.israelversusjudaism.org www.jewsagainstzionism.com Tepat 3 bulan yang lalu kita ngerayain hari kemerdekaan negara kita. Macem2 cara orang ngerayain hari kemerdekaan ini: ada yang bikin pawai di jalan, ngehias kampungnya atopun bikin lomba2. Nah, apa yang gw lakuin pas hari kemerdekaan itu? Seinget gw, gw gak ngelakuin kesibukan apa2 selain santai2 di rumah sehabis ngelembur di kantor beberapa hari sebelumnya, nguber deadline desain Kedutaan Besar Quwait di Brunei. Yup, kantor gw sebagai salah satu perusahaan arsitektur terbesar Indonesia gak cuma ngegarap desain dari negeri sendiri, tapi jg dari negara2 seberang.
Nah, sebuah pengalaman menarik terjadi pas gw ngelembur di kantor itu. Sehabis jam kerja resmi di kantor selesai, gw gak langsung ngegarap kerjaan lemburan gw itu. coz sering gw harus nunggu kerjaan dari temen arsitek gw selesei dulu sebelum dioper ke gw. or kadang gw mesti nunggu arsitek senior gw buat dapet approval buat tahap desain yg sebelumnya, sebelum bs masuk ke tahap berikutnya. Kadang si arsitek senior itu suka rapat di luar kantor en baru nongol di kantor lagi jm 7.30 malem. Nah, waktu luang itu gw gunain buat ngelakuin sesuatu. Kalo gak surfing di internet, ya biasanya gw ngobrol ma temen2 gw or baca2 buku. Pas arsitek senior gw belum nongol, berkeliling gak jelas lah gw di dalem ruangan kerja divisi gw. tau2 di pojok ruangan gw nemuin sebuah buku tebel yang ukurannya sebuku Harry Potter. Gak jelas itu buku punya sapa. Kayaqnya punya seorang arsitek senior gw yang resign sebelumnya. itu buku udah uzur banget en berjudul ‘Bung Karno: Sang Penyambung Lidah Rakyat’. Gw baca sekilas prolog di belakang bukunya. Oh, ternyata buku biografi bung Karno. Alah, males lah gw. Emang udah jadi kebiasaan gw jadi males banget kalo mesti baca buku yang tebel banget en isinya monoton. Monoton itu ya kayak biografi or pikiran2 para ahli politik yang seringkali ngebosenin buat gw. Termasuk ngebosenin juga adalah roman2 cinta or novel2 tebel, yang kadang kalo liat ada orang tekun banget baca buku gitu bikin gw suka bertanya: ngapain orang itu demen bener ngabisin waktu baca buku setebel itu? padahal isinya bo’ongan, alias fiktif. Terkecuali itu cerita beneran, barulah ada tamsil yang bisa dipetik dari situ (sori para pecinta novel. he2.). tapi gak termasuk dalem kategori ini buku2 tebel tentang science, coz gw hobi banget –seperti ‘the origin of species’nya Charles Darwin-, antropologi –seperti tentang asal usul bangsa Eropa-, or hal2 lain yg emang jadi minat gw. Karena gw gak terlalu niat ngebacanya, so gw cuma fast read aja daftar isi itu biografi. Kali aja ada hal yg gw belum tau or menarik. Ah, ada bab tentang Pledoi (pembelaan) bung Karno di depan pengadilan Belanda yang udah nahan bung Karno, karena bung Karno protes ngeliat papan tulisan ‘Honden zijn verboden. Inlanders zijn verboden (Anjing dilarang masuk. Pribumi dilarang masuk)’ di depan kolam renang Karang Setra di Bandung. gw ambil kursi kerja gw en mulei baca bab itu. Uih, menarik juga ternyata isi itu bab. dengan gaya bercerita orang pertama, yakni dari sudut bung Karno sendiri, diceritakan dengan detail sekali, mulei gmana bung Karno waktu itu protes, lantas jadi intenir, en mesti mengalami hari2 yang mengenaskan di penjara Banceuy. Di sebuah ruangan berukuran 2x2 m tanpa jendela dan ventilasi sedikitpun –ventilasi hanya dari slot udara kecil di pintu besi hitam yang jadi pintu ruangan itu-, sangat lembab, dingin, dan banyak cecak, bung Karno mesti melewati hari2nya tanpa pasti. Bung Karno yang tadinya berpikir hanya akan berada di penjara itu selama 2-3 minggu ternyata harus mendekam di sel hingga 2 tahun –kalo gw gak keliru- sampe datang hari-H!! Hari-H adalah hari paling penting, yaitu waktu diberitahukannya hari peradilan bung Karno. Waktu itu temen2nya bung Karno –ada yang pengacara, ambtenaar, dll- datang untuk menawarkan bantuan hukum. tapi bung Karno menolak en memilih untuk menyusun pidato pembelaannya sendiri dalam bahasa Belanda. Yang bikin gw salut adalah usia bung Karno waktu itu 25 tahun, cuma lebih tua 3 taun dari usia gw sekarang, tapi dia udah berani nantangin hakim2 Belanda bangkotan yang usianya udah diatas 50-an waktu itu! d’amazing moment adalah ketika si hakim2 itu gak nemuin fakta2 lagi buat ngebantah bung Karno en akhirnya bung Karno ‘terpaksa’ dibebaskan, meskipun masih dalam pengawasan Nederlandse gouvernement. ah, gila bener ni orang.. Gw selesei baca itu bab bertepatan ma datengnya senior arsitek gw dari rapat. So, I gotta get back to work. Keesokan harinya, kejadian ini berulang lagi. coz gw mesti lembur en mesti nunggu sesuatu, gw liat lagi, apa ada bagian menarik dari buku itu yang bisa gw baca. Ah, ini dia! Ada bagian perkawinan bung Karno dengan istri pertamanya, cerai dari istri pertamanya en kemudian merit ma istri kedua –bu Inggit Ganarsih-. Baru setelah gw baca buku itu gw ngerti bahwa bung Karno ternyata bukan tipe demen maen cewek kayak yang didesas-desusin orang. cukup logiclah alasannnya ninggalin sang istri pertama –buat gw sbg co- en kemudian berpaling ke istri kedua. Lama2 gw perhatiin juga daftar isi itu biografi. Oh, ada bagian tentang orang tuanya bung Karno, terus ada bab tentang masa muda bung Karno waktu menuntut kuliah di Bandung, sampe saat2 genting waktu bung Karno mesti ngadepin kembalinya tentara KNIL ke Indonesia, padahal Indonesia –dlm hal teknologi & kesiapan perang- waktu itu outnumbered banget. Kebetulan besok itu libur 17 Agustus en gw gak ada gawe, so gw ambil lah itu biografi buat gw baca di rumah. Besoknya, seabis gw bangun, solat, senam, en makan, langsung gw baca buku itu. waktu gak kerasa berlalu. Mulai dari jam 8 pagi ampe jam 6 magrib gw baca itu buku. 10 jam gw baca buku itu non-stop tanpa beranjak dari sofa di ruang keluarga lantai-2 rumah gw. gw ninggalin sofa cuma buat makan en solat doang, abis itu duduk lagi di situ. Yah, gitulah kelakuan gw kalo dah ‘obsessed’ ma sesuatu. If I have started it, I MUST finish it. Seabis selesai gw baca, gw letakkan buku itu dengan sejuta kekaguman yang sebelumnya gak gw miliki terhadap bung Karno. Ah, gendeng banget lah ini orang. Bangga rasanya pernah punya presiden kayak gini. Gw merasa terenyuh dan masuk ke dalam cerita, waktu Bung Karno nyeritain masa kecilnya yang dipenuhi kemiskinan. Orang tuanya yang harus bener2 berjuang supaya anak2nya bisa sekolah, bung Karno yang makanan hariannya nasi jagung en jarak bersekolah bung Karno yang jauh banget yang harus ditempuh jalan kaki. Sampe perjuangannya masuk kampus yg pernah jd kampus gw juga: Bandoengsche Technische Hoogeschool a.k.a ITB. Waktu itu bung Karno cuma jadi salah satu dari 3 siswa pribumi yang bisa sekolah di situ. Sisanya siswa2 Londo yang notabene anak2 ambtenaar Belanda yang kaya raya. Termasuk pelecehan en perendahan2 martabat manusia yang mesti dialamin bung Karno selama beliau kuliah 7 tahun di situ. Tapi bung Karno terus istiqomah. Satu hal yang sangat gw kagumi dari Bung Karno yakni ternyata telah adanya visi dari orang tersebut sejak usia mudanya tentang kemerdekaan bangsanya. Ini sangat istimewa waktu itu karena waktu itu orang2 Indonesia asli di sekeliling bung Karno sudah dihinggapi rasa inferior terhadap bangsa2 Barat. Entah visi ini muncul dari mana. Bung Karno itu sejak mudanya –sejak usia belasan taun kalo menurut buku itu- udah punya rasa ingin tau yang teramat kuat en suka melahap buku2 kelas berat, kayak buku ‘Trias Politica’nya Voltaire, ‘Das Kapital’nya Karl Marx dll. Sambil dapet bimbingan dari orang2 pentolan Indonesia waktu itu, kayak Cipto Mangunkusumo –kalo gak keliru-, Musolini, en dll, pak Karno tumbuh jadi individu dengan ide2 yang gendeng en revolusioner. Yup! Bung Karno ternyata pernah jadi muridnya Musolini! So, ternyata di Indonesia waktu itu, para ahli politik itu ternyata kenal satu sama lain. Cipto, Musolini, dll. Para pecinta debat politik itu punya suatu perkumpulan. Mereka punya satu tujuan sama: Indonesia merdeka, meskipun ideologi mereka beda2. Bentrok baru terjadi di kemudian hari setelah Indonesia merdeka en mereka masing2 punya massa, dimana setiap pihak merasa berhak u/ jadi penentu arah Indonesia. Termasuk Soekarno akhirnya harus mengeksekusi Musolini karena sudah mencoba mengkudetanya. Padahal notabene Musolini itu ternyata pernah jadi gurunya. Hal laen yang gw kagumin dari bung Karno adalah ketidakterlalucintaannya terhadap hal duniawi. Tergambar jelas di buku itu, gimana keadaan serbakekurangan yang sering harus dialami pak Karno en istrinya –bu Inggit Garnasih-, meskipun waktu itu bung Karno udah jadi ketua PNI. Dalam situasi itu, bung Karno menolak segala bantuan duniawi dari teman2nya. Dia malah masih mencoba berbagi dengan orang2 yang kekurangan. Wah, bener2 hebat. Periode pengasingan bertahun2 di Ende en Bovendigul (Papua) juga menyentuh hati gw. bener2 baru tau gw kalo waktu itu tu disana bener2 gak ada listrik. Bung Karno bener2 harus hidup di sebuah situasi yang asing en gak ramah. Penduduk local yang gak mau deket2 ma bung Karno karena tau bung Karno itu tahanan politik yang dibenci Belanda. Mereka takut ikut terseret punya masalah dengan pihak Belanda. Lingkungan sekitar yang sepenuhnya hutan dan banyak nyamuk malaria, dimana bung Karno dan istrinya harus hidup dari bertanam ubi dll. Sunyi. Terisolir. Persis kayak film Castaway lah! Bung Karno yang intelek itu sontak dipaksa hidup kayak orang hutan. Tapi bung Karno emang orangnya tabah banget. Dia itu orangnya gak macem2 en mau nrimo situasi hidup apapun yang dihadapinya. Gak ada gerutu sedikitpun. Pilihan hidup katanya. Wah, lagi2 gendeng. Hebat. So, meskipun tadinya gw pikir buku biografi tokoh politik itu membosankan, khusus buat biografi bung karno ini boleh lah temen2 baca. Gw recommend. Asik banget, kayak ketemu dengan bung Karno-nya bercerita langsung. Judul bukunya ‘Bung Karno: Penyambung LIdah rakyat’. Setelah baca biografi ini, beberapa tanda Tanya seputar bung Karno yang pernah ada di kepala gw pun jadi jelas. Mungkin temen2 pun menghadapi hal yang sama. So gw jelasin dikit lah: APAKAH BUNG KARNO ITU PRO-KOMUNIS? Kalo yang dimaksud pro-Komunis disini adalah bahwa Bung Karno seorang penganut ideologi komunis, jelas gak! Coz di buku itu sendiri ybs nerangin bahwa dia bukanlah komunis, meskipun memang dia mengakui bahwa dia adalah sosialis. Yang dimaksud komunis itu adalah mau mengikuti ajarannya Karl Marx, Lenin, ataupun Stalin bahwa kontrol mutlak atas negara ataupun rakyat harus dipegang secara terpusat oleh pemerintah. Juga ajaran bahwa agama adalah candu bagi rakyat, karena agama mengajarkan manusia untuk tidak percaya akan kemampuan dirinya sendiri memecahkan segala masalah. Bung Karno bukan pengikut hal2 ini. Bung Karno adalah sosialis dalam arti bahwa sosialisme adalah paham yang mementingkan hajat hidup rakyat banyak, terutama golongan bawah yang sering gak dibela. Pasca kemerdekaan, sikap bung Karno thdp negara liberal en negara komunis sebenernya sama terbukanya. Tapi bung Karno menjelaskan bahwa ternyata negara komunis lebih suka memberikan bantuan tanpa neko2. Sementara negara liberal, macam Amerika, kalo mo ngasi bantuan waktu itu ternyata netapin bunga yang ampun tingginya en syarat2 menjerat rakyat Indonesia lainnya. Ini yang sering bikin bung Karno lebih banyak minta bantuan ke negara komunis ketimbang liberal, en akhirnya malah dapet cap komunis. Maklum, Indonesia waktu abis merdeka kan miskin banget brur. Ybs sendiri yang jelasin. APAKAH BUNG KARNO ITU DOYAN CEWEK? Nah, ini dia sebuah pertanyaan menarik. Kalo yang dimaksud doyan cewek disini adalah bung Karno gemar ‘melahap’ cewek, jelas gak. Alasan perceraian pertama bung Karno jelas banget: istri pertama bung Karno terlalu kekanak2an. Gak bisa ngimbangin sisi bung Karno yang dewasa en butuh sokongan moril. Jiwa mereka berdua terlalu beda. Alasan perceraian kedua juga jelas: bu Inggit Garnasih gak bisa ngasi keturunan. Sbenernya bung Karno masih mencintai bu Inggit, hanya saja bung Karno minta ijin bu Inggit supaya boleh menikahi bu Fatmawati karena ingin punya keturunan. Tapi bu Inggit murka en minta cerai. Sementara itu alasan bubarnya keharmonisan bung Karno dan bu Fatmawati karena kehadiran Ratnasari Dewi (yang nama asli Jepangnya gw lupa) adalah karena bung Karno melihat bu Ratna sebagai seorang wanita yang penuh dinamisme dan antusiasme, hampir seperti dirinya. Sementara bu Fatmawati mungkin orangnya tipe penurut, tidak banyak bicara, en adem ayem. Waktu bung Karno mencoba jujur bahwa memang ada wanita lain yang tengah menarik hatinya, bu Fatmawati menjadi mutung en meninggalkan rumah. Kalo temen2 lantas melihat bahwa bung Karno adalah tipe cowok yang gampang terpesona oleh kilau suatu cewek en lantas gampang punya hati ma cewek itu, itu adalah hak temen2 buat nilai. Tapi bung Karno sendiri berkata bahwa ‘wanita memang diciptakan indah. Sama indahnya seperti Tuhan telah menciptakan seni dan hal2 indah lainnya di muka bumi.’ |
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December 2019
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